Tuesday, August 26, 2008

O2D2 & PHone2

I have the Beanie Baby named Weenie. It reminds me of my dog Odie, and gives me comfort at my job. I had asked in a poll on this site, what should I name it? The names I though of to be voted on are Godie, &og, O2D2, & Korny. Godie just adds a G to Odie,and suggests either being on the go, or God. God is dog spelled backwards. &og stands for Andog, a combination of my name and the word dog. O2D2 stands for Odie two, dog two. The only letters also spell out O-D. It is inspired by the Star Wars droid called R2D2. Korny is a corny name spelled like a favorite Rock music group called Korn. All two votes received chose O2D2. 10/15/08: I have since thought of two new names. Rew is short for roo since it looks like a Kangaroo, and shares my name without the &. Nissan, because it is not a Dachshund. The car company was previously named Datsun.

When I called on 8/11/08, to have my number transferred to my new cell-phone, I was asked if I wanted to renew my contract. Not understanding what this meant, I said yes, and received a free $50 credit to my account. I then found out that the consequence is a two year deadline to renew. If I stop service before that time, I would be fined a $200 fee. Since I have had the freedom of no-contract, I called back to return the $50, and regain my freedom. My plan continues to be $15/month for 750 anytime anywhere minutes, and 50 text messages per month. I have no contract deadline, or cancellation fees.

I made another call to Vonage to cancel my phone service. I have the $4.99 plan. I was offered no-cost service for three months, and I accepted. I continue to have both house and mobile phone numbers and services, and I am only paying $15/month.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

50.50 from 1958

In 1958, 50 years ago, the following were created: AARP, NASA, The Peace Sign, The Jim Henson Company, The Integrated Circuit, Color TV... It was the first Post-Baby Boom year, and part of the Jones Generation (unfulfilled expectations), during the Recession, and the statehood of ALaska.

I share my Birth Year with: Caroline Kennedy, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ellen DeGeneres, Andie MacDowell, Holly Hunter, Tim Robbins, Sharon Stone, Matt Frewer, Kevin Bacon, Tim Burton, Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe), Bebe Neuwirth, Grandmaster Flash, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gary Oldman, Alec Balwin, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Wade Boggs...

Friday, August 08, 2008

Eric Garbarczyk

Eric is Cavalier: Showing arrogant or offhand disregard; dismissive: a cavalier attitude toward the suffering of others. I believe that is what makes his job in Customer service easier. He is not empathetic, and feels no pain. He just picks up garbage dumped on him by Agents and customers, and hauls it away.

People have a hard time pronouncing his name. About 3 months ago, Eric approached me to print on a shirt of his, the phrase 'Eric Garbage truck'. I was eager to do this for him as a favor to please him. I am proud of the design I created that is shown in this posting. He constantly made specific promises of when and how he would give me a white T-shirt. I had designed and printed on T-shirts for a few other co-workers.

At irregular intervals, sometimes daily, I ask or remind him about bringing me a shirt. He continued to assure me that he does indeed want his white shirt printed on, that he wants above phrase on his shirt, and will bring it in. He even promised to put it into my draw on my day off with a note. I even came in on my day off, and it was not there. I decided that I no longer wanted to make this gift for him if he would not bring it in the next day. I told him this, and he again promised to bring it the next day. He did not bring it in. Then, on the day after that, I instead printed it out on paper, and showed his friends. Eric was not at work, and I have not shown him my work to this day.

The following day after that, as I was leaving, he smiled, and held his white T-shirt above his head. He proclaimed that he wants to keep his shirt blank. Although I thought he would do this childish act, I was surprised, amazed, and disappointed that he was not the virtuous person I once thought he was. I am also very puzzled by his behavior. I am surprisingly not angry. I instead feel sorry for him. I don't treat people the way Eric did to me. I definitely do not deserve this treatment.

I have been frequently been dumped on, earlier in my life. It appears people abuse my vulnerabilities for their gain, due to my "disabilities" The name of this is now better known as being an Aspie. People get the impression that I am rude, and insensitive. I am quite the contrary. I have been frustrated most of my life, to overcome my syndrome. I fortunately now finally have a name & definition for it (AS). This has empowered me. That is why I say that "I am empowered by the Aspie operating system."

During these first three years that I have been in Florida, I have come to trust and love people. For the first time, I love many of the people I work with. I have worked very hard to overcome my impression on people. One way I do this, and to show my appreciation to those who are kind to me, is to do things or give things to these people. I enjoy giving to people. I am compelled to demonstrate my appreciation to people who are respectful, tolerant, and helpful to me. I hope this can compensate for my lack of social skills. I have had a frustratingly hard time my entire life to make friends, and develop relationships. I frequently want to give up trying as hard as I do. I believe I will continue my lonely life until I die. Unfortunately, I never give up hope. What is your reaction? I would like to know.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

My Palm Phone

I started being careless on how I put my $400 Palm PDA of 3.5 years in my pocket one day on 7/22/08. As a result, on that same day, the money clip on my wallet broke the screen, and rendered my PDA trash. I am sad. On 8/3/08 I ripped out the money clip from my leather wallet. I never carry cash. I carry only cards, and they are all the same size.

However, a replacement Tungsten-C Palm PDA on eBay is about $125. A new basic cell phone is $200 brand new (free with a contract). A new PDA is $200-400. My 7-year old cell phone has frequent drop outs (one band), and a talk time of one hour. The buttons don't respond well. I have a green screen with black characters. It requires being flipped open. Sometimes I have issues with the ringer. Having both a separate hand-held computer, & a cell phone is too much for my pockets. I often use a wired headset to hear and be heard better.

I decided to get a Palm PDA/cell phone combo. This is called a
smart phone. Instead of the $400 cost for a new one, I purchased a Centro on eBay for about $215. I picked it up from the post office on 8/4/08.

Brand new, the $400 smart phone is $100 with a contract. Unlike most people, I do not have a mobile phone contract. I only pay $15/month for 750 minutes. Its similar to buying a car or home instead of renting or leasing. I would rather pay full price, and save in the long run.

I feel decadent replacing my 6/28/01 SCH8500 Samsung Sprint cell phone that only cost me $84. It still works, I only use 250-500 minutes per month. I am sad my PDA broke. It is one of my favorite things in my life, and cost me $300 on eBay. However, I have now fulfilled my fantasy of a device that will do more than both devices together, and smaller than either! All my electronics and communication are finally together and integrated.

Since the phone/PDA will be more reliable and dependable, I plan to disconnect my home phone service and number. It has been $15/month for unlimited local, long distance, and Europe. Now it is only $5/month. However with tax and fees, it is $8/month or $100/year! I receive two 45-60 minute phone calls in total per week.

I enjoyed
Don Adams in Get Smart, as Max Smart, in the 1960s. He recently died, as did Charles Shultz. A new movie called "Get Smart" has recently been released. He had a wireless phone in his shoe. So, when the term "Smart phone" came into our lexicon vernacular, I thought of the fact that Maxwell Smart had a "Smart" phone thirty years early! Please click for my posting. Another TV show of the sixties had a cell phone and PDA thirty years earlier. It was the communicator and Tricorder of Star Trek. Today we have one combined device called the Treo! I have the successor, called the Centro.

Monday, August 04, 2008

&rew Lerner design LOves FLOrida

Please click on this and every picture and title of every posting in this site. This is the current state of my design. I deliberately integrated my original logo for Florida with my original name. I would like to use this as one unified logo that Identifies me and my work. If another company would like to license this logo from me, it would probably not have my name, or listed as prominently.

I, Andrew Lerner, created from scratch only all by myself, a design to express what the state of Florida means and feels like. It is a logo or symbol that expresses the feeling of Florida . It incorporates the word love and the the name of Florida . It is also as if to say, that "I love Florida", and there is love here. I made the letter "o" into the shape of a heart. That is because the heart symbolizes love and warmth. The letter "o" is being used as part of both the words love and Florida , just as the the letter "L" is! Also, I made the the inside of the letter "o" yellow. This represents the warm sunshine of the sun in this sunshine state! Also, the round orange "o" dot over the "i" represents the fruit orange that is grown here in this state of Florida ! The F and L are capitalized as FL is also the abbreviation for the state of Florida. I used colors that represent my state of Florida . They are green, yellow, orange, and the red love that I feel living here. The font I used is rounded, and smooth, just like the heart I used, and how Florida looks and feels.

Advertising and graphic art has been an interest of mine most of my life. It is only recently, that I started exploring and applying my talents by learning and using Microsoft Publisher 2000. I am proud of my design. I applied for a copyright at the Library of Congress, United States Copyright Office. 101 Independence Ave. SE Washington, DC 20559-6000. I find my idea, design, and work to be very creative, clever, and well done. I am proud of my work, that I feel is professional looking. I am showing it to you to get feedback along these lines. I crave and need praise and encouragement. My success in life is proportional to the amount of support and attention I receive. Unfortunately this is little and far between. What is your reaction? I would like to know.